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Justin Bieber apologizes for his behaviour

These police booking mugs made available by the Miami Dade County Corrections Department show pop star Justin Bieber, who has recently apologized for his behaviour over the last few years.Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Miami Dade County Jail

In the confessional video, shot with a smartphone in a dimly lit room, the Stratford, Ont.-reared pop star says he’s afraid of how people will react to an appearance he had just shot for the “Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

“I was really nervous and I think I was nervous because I was afraid of what people are thinking about me right now,” said Bieber, speaking softly.

“I didn’t want to come off arrogant or conceited — or basically how I’ve been acting the past year, year and a half.

“I’m not who I pretended to be. And when I say pretending, we pretend to be something we’re not as a cover-up for what we’re truly feeling inside. And there are a lot of feelings going on in there.”

Bieber, who turns 21 on March 1, has been making more headlines than charts in recent years.

He hasn’t released a single since the non-album track “Confident” in December 2013. Instead, he’s become immersed in a series of reputation-staining scandals while casting a petulant demeanour.

He’s made headlines for warring with photographers, urinating into a restaurant mop bucket, vandalizing hotels, and egging neighbours of his posh suburban L.A. home.

Over the summer he pled guilty to careless driving and resisting arrest after being taken into custody while allegedly inebriated. He was also accused of street-racing through Miami Beach in a yellow Lamborghini.

Recently, however, Bieber has shown signs that he wants to rehabilitate his sullied image.

He posed for a Calvin Klein underwear campaign, performed an impromptu acoustic show in L.A., reacted with good humour to a recent “SNL” spoof, and agreed to subject himself to further mockery on an upcoming Comedy Central roast.

On “Ellen,” the host said she declined to participate in the roast because she “doesn’t like being mean to people,” and queried Bieber on why he would get involved.

“I think it’s just cool to be able to laugh at yourself,” he replied. “I’ve done some things that might not have been the greatest.”

“No, right?” replied Bieber. “I just want to be able to laugh about it and kind of own up to some of the things.”

In the video shot afterward, meanwhile, Bieber mused on the difficulty of coming of age in the public eye.

“Just being young and growing up in this business is hard. Growing up in general is hard,” he said.

“Although what’s happened in the past has happened, I just want to make the best impression on people and be kind and loving and gentle and soft.
“People can call me a softy — that’s how my mom raised me.”